Nape of the Neck Tattoos

The nape of the neck, in case you weren’t aware, is the flattened back portion of your neck, just below the boundary of hair. Getting a tattoo on the center of this portion, or slightly below, is an apt area to place a tattoo that you can hide if you have long hair, or of course when you wear a tee shirt high enough to disguise it. Tattoos in this area must range between small-medium in size, and not overly large, or else the detailing could be lost.

It’s not like one can really see what the tattoo is if you go with say, text, and the best thing to do would be to stick to something more prominent and less messy. Here you’ll come across some interesting ideas for nape of neck tattoos, that you can feel free to experiment with if you have a naked space on the back of your neck.

Nape tattoos can be anything from symbolic designs, to something that is aesthetic in nature when looked upon. A word of advice for those looking to get inked – if you decide to go with color, you need to keep in mind that if your skin tone is on the darker side, then colors will have to be more enhanced on a bigger tattoo, and not something you’d get on the neck. Here’s giving you the rundown on designs to get, for back of the neck tattoos.

Initials/Dates/Single Words

To get running text on the back of the neck is not ideal, for obvious reasons, like distorted text due to limited space, or a messy job if the font size is too small or too big. Text can be used if you decide to get it done a little lower than the nape, where the skin portion broadens. Since we’re strictly speaking about neck tattoos consisting of the nape area, it is advisable to go with something similar, text wise, but still keeping it clean. Initials or the date of events is an apt choice when getting the nape area tattooed. It will look big enough to read clearly, leaving room for experimentation, with respect to font, and of course still hold symbolic value. Single words like ‘peace’, ‘love’, ‘rebel’, ‘respect’ and so on, can fit in this space, but keeping font styles simple and not too stylistic to avoid that clustered look, is the way to go.

Symbols

This is a great idea to have one symbol speak for itself. Tribal neck tattoos seem like a good idea, by fitting tribal characters in nature, that translate into something intriguing. Zodiac tattoos would seem like a great idea, like going with the traditional symbols that depict each signs true self, or how about going with the name of your sign, stylized in good font and color if you’d like. Shading is a creative way of bringing out artwork threefold, than going with an ordinary look. Try incorporating this idea to your tattoo artist, to let it stand out and look more than two dimensional. Zodiacs representing Chinese symbols, or even the signs that represent your ruling planet, would be a pretty cool idea for those who are into astrology.

Celtic Designs

A Celtic design would look great if you were to go with cross tattoos that sported intricate knot work, and symbolized the true Celtic look. You could also go with Celtic tattoos that represent other elements like animals, Celtic type artwork and whatever else you think would look exceptional.

Going Green

If you’re into nature and anything that would symbolize greenery associated with flora and even fauna, then flower tattoos or other nature inspired details can be included as part of your tattoo. Some people link certain nature-esque elements with people, loved ones or events and can use that to represent an idea or message.

Religious Symbols

When getting these done, it can seem very befitting to showcase something you believe in that is important to you. You can put anything from a religion that you are a part of, or have turned to, be it Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Islam, Scientology and so on. Just remember to get your symbols right, and do your research before finalizing your choice of tattoo art. It would be better to place scriptured text after a symbol, since like I mentioned earlier, text would better if placed a little lower than the nape of the neck.

Universal Language

If you’d like to get a tattoo in another language that translates into something like the common Japanese tattoos that mean different things. They look simplistic since they come off first as a single symbol, but actually stretches to a word when translated. Make sure you know tattoo’s meanings before you get them done. You wouldn’t want something on your body that didn’t mean the right thing.

Experiencing pain from tattooing can be a little unnerving if it’s your first time, and trust me it’s worth the pain in the end. As the session lapses, you’ll find yourself getting used to pricking and like all tattoo enthusiasts, you’ll be coming back for more. Neck tattoo pain isn’t all that bad, and you have to mentally prepare yourself and try relaxing – this isn’t an operation without an anesthetic. Have fun getting inked.